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Wednesday rolls around quickly, doesn’t it?! This is Homecoming week for my high school. The students are acting a bit nutty with all of the fun activities, so I’m trying to keep things on the light side…kind of like the Hodgepodge! Thanks, Joyce, for the fabulous questions!!

1. Noah Webster was born this week back in 1758….besides the online version, do you own a dictionary? Do you ever use the hardback copy or is your hunt for a definition strictly online these days?

I do own a dictionary, and I have a number of them in my classroom. Go figure. Reading teacher…dictionaries.

Yeah. Sarcasm. Forgive me. I teach high schoolers. 😀

I love hardback dictionaries. Dictionaries are so full of interesting information!!! I really love teaching students how to use them; however, most often these days, I’m teaching kids how to look up words on their cell phones. We are living in a time of technology, and my kids run across words ALL THE TIME that they are unfamiliar with. Hence, it’s imperative to be able to look up words on the fly.

2. Should public schools ban Halloween celebrations? What about other holiday celebrations currently under fire?

I do not think Halloween celebrations should be banned. I do, however, think that schools should allow ALL religious holidays to be celebrated, or at least acknowledged, rather than only allowing certain ones.

When my children were in elementary school, there was a holiday assembly held in December. Holidays such as Kwanza, Hanukkah, and the secular version of Christmas were on display. Did you see a manger? Nope. Yet you saw the religious aspects of the other holidays, and you can bet your behind that you saw Santa Clause. I was peeved. Be fair…do it all or do nothing.

3. What’s your favorite ‘dog’ movie?

I don’t really like dog movies because they are always sad, and I can’t do sad animal stories.

I do like the movie, Over the Hedge, which has a dog that utters the famous words, “Play?”

4. When were you last somewhere you’d describe as ‘too quiet’?

A couple of weekends ago, I was home alone, so to speak. The Mr. had gone to watch Chicky play soccer, and I was stuck in the house. It was very quiet…almost too much so.

5. Are you a neat cook or a messy cook? In other words do you clean as you go or make a big mess and then deal with it later?

I am not a cook. If, perchance, I do, I’m a neat one, preferring to clean as I go so it’s not left until the end.

6. Did you hear about Felix Baumgartner, the skydiver who broke the sound barrier via parachute? Was your first thought COOL! or was your first thought CRAZY! Are you adventurous?

My first thought was…hmmmm. I discussed this event with my students last Friday when we watched Flocabulary’s News in Rap. Many of my students said they would love to do something like that. I decided I’d like to parachute jump but only in tandem…with a cute military guy as my “expert.”

heehee

😀

7. What’s not a word but should be?

AuburnChickFabuloso.

Seriously.

Play along and feed the ego, okay?

😉

8. My Random Thought

I have a student who is such a cutie pie. I’ll call him “K.”

He recently finished reading the book, 13 Reasons Why. He is a very slow reader, and the format of this book was difficult for him…at first. He worked hard, though, and finished that book.

Let me tell you…he was one proud young guy. You should have seen the light in his eyes when he announced that he’d finished.

He had previously told me that he hasn’t read a book in a long time.

He expressed displeasure at the way it had ended, and we had an engaging conversation about how he would have changed the ending.

That happened on Friday.

Monday morning, I saw him looking for something. When I inquired, he said he was looking for another of the author’s books, The Future of Us. I happened to buy and read this book last summer and had given a book talk about it.

He’d wanted to get the book last weekend, but he wasn’t able to.

I proudly told him that I owned the book but that another student was reading it, but then I did something. I pulled the book from that student’s folder (he’s in another class period). We agreed that he could read it, and I gave him a sticky note, my version of a bookmark, and he began reading.

Every day, after K finishes his reading time, we put the book back in the other gentleman’s folder.

I love when things like this happen. My goal is to cultivate a love for reading in my students’ hearts. It means that I buy a lot of books, and I read a lot of them too so I can give honest evaluations of them and exude excitement when I recommend them.